Santos eyes EU flights for 2026 in a year of record-breaking cruise calls 

The Minister for Culture Christian Santos expects record-breaking cruise calls this year and in 2026 he will be focusing on bringing flights to Gibraltar following the UK/EU Treaty. 

Last year Mr Santos hoped a record would be broken as Gibraltar was on track to receive almost 240 cruise calls, surpassing the 2023 total of 187, but there were a few cancellations.  

In terms of the number of cruise calls Mr Santos expects this year will break the record by around 30. 

“What we've got booked this year is quite a lot higher than we've had in history,” he said. 

Mr Santos said this influx is due to selling Gibraltar as a destination, describing variables that also affect the sector such as some cruise ships being so large in size they are unable to dock locally and in many ports. 

“It's not like we lost [the cruise calls],” he said. 

“The ships just became bigger, but we're planning on the cruise liner terminal. We'll be able to confirm, I think, this year, what's actually going to happen.” 

He hopes that with the new cruise terminal in the works the port will be able to welcome those ships again. 

“As soon as we make some changes within the infrastructure, they'll be able to come back,” he said. 

“But it is about making Gibraltar a destination that they want to come back. And it's been working well.” 

“The Tourist Board has been working hard.” 

Mr Santos has also looked at bringing new flights to Gibraltar since the announcement of the treaty agreement. 

“We are now working very hard to expand into the EU because now we'll be able to access that,” he said. 

“Our focus since June has been making contact with new airlines and working with our current airlines to see what other destinations they can offer. So that is looking very positive, especially because now with a free-flowing frontier, the world is our oyster.” 

He said around half of airline passengers stay in Gibraltar, adding that more flights could result in more visitors staying locally. 

“The aim is to not just use Gibraltar as a hub to move out of Gibraltar, but to look for airlines that want to invest in Gibraltar as a destination for people to stay in, as well as use it as a transitory airport,” he said. 

“So that's our interest. We are going to have a lot of airlines that will want to use it as a hub and then move out into the nearby area, but we need to make sure that we're working not just with the flight divisions, but also with the holiday divisions, because a lot of the airlines, like BA has BA flights and BA holidays, EasyJet has EasyJet holidays, and they are very much in contact with the hotels, so that they offer staying in Gibraltar as an option.” 

“That's what we're looking at, at the moment. 

He added the Tourist Board has just released their new tourism campaign, which is a development from the campaign published over in the past 18 months. 

For Mr Santos, the campaign is about bringing Gibraltar to the fore and making it “feel fresh”. This year’s campaign is focused on inviting visitors to Gibraltar. 

The demographic it is aimed at is mid-40s and above, and family holidays.  

Mr Santos said that last year’s campaign reached 14 million people in the UK. Their social media campaign has seen a 234% rise and the website an 108% increase in visits. 

“You know that something's working, so we're just going to continue doing what we do,” he said. 

“We're speaking to the hotels, they're very happy with how 2025 has gone. They've seen a big increase there.” 

Adding to the tourism product this year will be the refurbishment of the Northern Defences and Moorish Castle. 

“With culture and tourism, I'm a strong believer that we need to kind of look at both of them at the same time,” Mr Santos said. 

“I plan my cultural events and the tourism strategy very close together.” 

“We're starting the year in a fantastic footing with the Globe Travel Awards that we're nominated as the best tourist board with the greats of the tourism industry. 

“We're nominated with Florida, Barbados, Spain, Greece, Switzerland, we're there with the big guns. It's a bit of a David and Goliath story, but it's great that we're there.” 

“I think a big part of that is because we've really worked on what our offering as a destination is.” 

“For us, we are always looking from a cultural perspective to make what we already have that little bit bigger.” 

Calentita will become a two-day event with activities, and the team are looking at the possibility of a different venue. 

Mr Santos pointed to the Festival of Lights and how it has been improved upon over the years, and also the introduction of the candlelight concerts which have proved to be popular. 

He added that there have been collaborations with the tourism industry for bespoke events for cruise ship passengers. 

The programme began with Azamara Cruise Lines, and now the ministry will be working with Silversea for produce events like the candlelight concerts “but with a flair” of Gibraltarian identity. 

Mr Santos said there are three events lined up with cruise liners this year, with the plan to expand this programme where possible. 

Last year an Oktoberfest event was held, which Mr Santos plans to change and he plans to rebrand Summer Nights.  

Summer Nights is known locally for events held in Casemates or in town and last year some of these events were moved to the beach in a pilot programme. 

“We wanted to bring summer events back,” Mr Santos said. 

“A few years ago we did a different pilot event. We did the Big Slop and then we did something Casemates and we've realised that and this year we had a standard of touring around the different beaches and we've decided to just go for Big Slop events.” 

“As opposed to Summer Nights, we're going to do the whole pizza night, stay over, chill and that's what works best, family events.” 

“We're going to go for that this summer. The Literary Festival as well, we promised it was going to be bigger and better.” 

Mr Santos described how the prelude to the Literary Festival has already been set for April. 

“This is already booked and it's going to be a great one and it's another one that's a very popular personality who's written books but is famous for something else and it's going to be very interactive and we hope that Gibraltar will participate in an event that we've got planned with this author,” he said. 

“It is very exciting actually and when we announce what it is, it will all make sense.” 

“It's a great personality that we're bringing over and it'll be a Gibraltar-wide event that the whole of Gibraltar will have the chance to participate and be a part of this event in a very interactive way.” 

Looking forward to next year’s event, Mr Santos said, the team at Gibraltar Cultural Services are scoping out different venues to expand the offering and sell more tickets. 

He added that they are refocusing how the Festival has been marketed to promote it as a tourism-led event. 

“This time we've got specific marketing campaigns that we're working with our biggest collaborators like BA and EasyJet and see how we can use that event as part of their offering in their holidays department,” he said. 

Last year as part of the Festival a bespoke event was organised by Seabourne cruises. This year cruise companies are being contacted to see how this can be added to the tour schedule.